OpenAI dismisses new accusations of Apple tech theft as baseless

In response to Apple’s accusation of stealing trade secrets, OpenAI said that the Cupertino company failed to prove that any confidential information was stolen by its former employees.

Photo credit: Wesley Tingey / unsplash.com

“This controversy is a mess of Apple’s own making as it tries to shift the blame onto others.” OpenAI said in a statement sent to U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, late Monday.

In a lawsuit filed in July, Apple accused OpenAI and its former employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan of misappropriating trade secrets related to hardware design, manufacturing and supply chain operations as developer ChatGPT entered the consumer device market.

OpenAI, in turn, claims Apple is using the lawsuit to slow down potential competitors and prevent its employees from switching to it. According to court documents, OpenAI poached about 400 employees from Apple to implement its hardware development plan. OpenAI said California law does not prohibit employees from moving freely from one company to another, even if those companies are competitors.

Apple argued in its original lawsuit that OpenAI hired Apple employees as part of a strategy to learn competitors’ secrets. Tan and Liu also allegedly gained access to Apple’s internal files after leaving the company.

OpenAI said on Monday that Apple encourages employees to use personal iCloud accounts to access Apple work files and carry out work, making it difficult for departing employees to separate personal information from company information.

OpenAI noted that Apple’s policy of requiring departing employees to immediately leave the office did not give them enough time to return company-owned devices, transfer internal documents back to the company, or transfer responsibilities.

Liu said any access he had to Apple files after leaving his job was to help former Apple colleagues find files or answer questions related to working at Apple. After his departure, Apple employees repeatedly asked him for help.

OpenAI also pointed out that employees “Possibly leaving a company like Apple that is struggling with artificial intelligence applications and moving to a promising startup creating innovative products.”